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However, there are thousands of stories in Mahabharata, only the main storyline is well known whereas the additional stories are often ignored.
One such story is that of the Udupi King who offered to cook food for everyone during the war.
The Kurukshetra war, between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, was one of the greatest battles of all time. No one could stay neutral in the war, all kings had to pick a side.
But, the king of Udupi chose to stay neutral and said that he will be the caterer for the battle.
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It seemed like an easy task but it wasn’t. The entire battle lasted for 18 days and each day thousands of soldiers died in the war. After the war, the soldiers of both sides would sit together and have food.
During the meal, Sri Krishna would sit by the side of Yudhishtra Maharaj. The Udupi king would personally serve both of them.
The Udupi king had a tough task of cooking appropriate amount of food without wastage.
Surprisingly,every day the food prepared was sufficient for everybody and no food was wasted. People wondered as to how the Udupi king would prepare, just the right amount of food required by the survivors everyday.
One day, the Pandavas went into the kitchen and asked the cooks how much food was in excess or shortage.
The cooks replied that each day the Udupi King fixes the amount of food to be prepared for feeding the exact number of surviving soldiers.The King deducts the number of soldiers that are going to die each day and orders the food to be prepared.
The Pandavas then went to the king of Udupi and asked him, How does he know exactly how many soldiers will die each day?
The Udupi king replied that Krishna loves to eat boiled peanuts at night and he is the one who serves him the peanuts. After he finishes eating, the king counts how many peanuts have been eaten by Krishna and then will know the number of soldiers dying next day.
For example if he has eaten 10 peanuts, tomorrow 10,000 will die. Every day, he counts these peanuts and cooks accordingly, so it turns out right.
The Pandavas then realised that the fighting is just a mere show but Krishna is the one who decides who dies each day.
When questioned, Krishna said that the future should always remain a mystery. Because, if we know what happens tomorrow, we won’t participate in today. If both Kauravas and Pandavas knew the outcome of the war, they would not even participate in the war.
As Sadhguru rightly says, knowing the beginning and the end, one must still play the game in the middle. Otherwise, there is no game, because the game is only in the moment.